A new book charts how the spy agency now deals out death by drones with full presidential backing, writes Toby Harnden in Washington

ONE balmy evening Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, was
relaxing with his family on his father-in-law’s rooftop in the village of
Zanghara, south Waziristan.

Two miles above, a Predator drone trained an infrared camera on him as he lay
on his back and was joined by his wife and uncle. The images were so clear
that it could be seen that Mehsud was receiving an intravenous drip.

Moments later two Hellfire missiles were launched from the Predator. Once the
dust had cleared, all that was left of Mehsud was a bloody torso. Eleven
others, including his wife and mother-in-law, had also died.

Mehsud’s death, in August 2009, caused barely a ripple in Washington, but it
was extraordinary because he was an enemy of Pakistan, not America.